Nathan Medd named Managing Director of National Arts Centre’s English Theatre
Ottawa (Canada) – The National Arts Centre (NAC) today announced the appointment of Parksville, B.C.-born Nathan Medd as Managing Director of the National Arts Centre’s English Theatre.
As the managing producer of the nationally recognized Electric Company Theatre in Vancouver, Mr. Medd helped the operation grow to become one of the largest touring theatre companies in Western Canada. During his tenure, the Electric Company Theatre produced tours of large-scale productions such as Studies in Motion (Alberta Theatre Projects, Vancouver Playhouse, Yukon Arts Centre, Montreal / Festival TransAmeriques, Toronto / Canadian Stage, Edmonton / Citadel Theatre) and No Exit (San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater, Kamloops / Western Canada Theatre, Toronto / Nightwood Theatre, Theatre Calgary / High Performance Rodeo).
Mr. Medd is also the co-founder of two studios that are at the heart of innovative, independent performing arts creation in British Columbia–Progress Lab 1422, a multi-tenant production centre in East Vancouver (now home to Electric Company), and the 200-seat Metro Studio Theatre in downtown Victoria, one of the busiest live venues on Vancouver Island for independent dance, theatre, and music.
Mr. Medd will be taking over the NAC position this summer from Nancy Webster, who is leaving the NAC to become Executive Director of the Young Peoples Theatre in Toronto, where she will work on directing the theatre’s future development.
Mr. Medd said he was committed, in partnership with NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Jillian Keiley, to investing in and developing new work.
“I feel extremely honoured to be taking on this role with the National Arts Centre – the Team Canada of the performing arts! – and to have the opportunity to work in partnership with Jillian Keiley, one of the most exciting theatre artists in Canada today,” said Mr. Medd. “She and CEO Peter Herrndorf have charged me up with their ambitious, national vision for English Theatre. Boy will I ever miss my friends at Electric Company, which has earned its place of renown because of artists who work harder, dream bigger, and play nicer than anyone would expect.”
Nathan Medd has also served as theatre program coordinator with the BC Arts Council, where he analyzed arts policy and managed the Province of BC's funding programs related to theatre and festival production. He has served on City of Vancouver arts assessment juries, on the Canada Council’s Theatre Assessment Committee, and on the board of the Vancouver Theatre Alliance. He is a past adjudicator of the Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award (a commissioning prize of the Vancouver East Cultural Centre), and a two-time adjudicator of the Canadian National Playwriting Competition, administered by Theatre BC. He began his career with the Belfry Theatre as front of house manager, and Intrepid Theatre– producers of the Victoria Fringe Festival and the Uno Festival of Solo Performance – as development and operations manager. A graduate of the Theatre and English departments at the University of Victoria, he has since done freelance planning consulting on the west coast for arts organizations such as the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, Touchstone Theatre, and Urban Ink Productions.
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For more information, please contact:
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Sean Fitzpatrick
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Carl Martin
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